5 2


‘No-deal Brexit will not disrupt flying from UK’


Lee Hayhurst and Juliet Dennis


EasyJet chief executive Johan undgren is cnfident there ill e n disrutin t flying r the  een i n reit deal is agreed ut deanded clarity r liticians


Speaking at a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast, he said he had received verbal assurances from Westminster and Brussels that there would be no impact to aviation after March 29. But he said a legal framework


needed to be agreed now, with the annual “major booking period” approaching, so carriers can plan for the post-Brexit period. “We are supportive of a deal on


aviation [being agreed] but even if there is no deal, the European Commission and Westminster have said they would be supportive of proteting traffi routes between the UK and Europe,” said Lundgren. “We are speaking to everyone


we can get hold of in Westminster and Brussels to say that they need


to clarify that in a legal text, so we know what we have to play with. I remain convinced that there won’t be any disruption to flying. s s prepared to start fie


days of debate on Brexit, Lundgren said a “number of scenarios” may unfold if Theresa May’s deal was voted down on December 11. Lundgren, who revealed he


was spending a third of his time dealing with offiials on reit, said “everyone agrees” on the “consequences” of a no-deal reit and that flying should be protected. “There’s no downside to agreeing the legal text,” he said. Last week, Abta chief executive


Mark Tanzer said a transition period, during which current rules remain until the end of 2020, would give the trade time to put long-term deals in place. He warned of “short-term disruption” in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Abta has published no-deal guidance for members relating to passports, health and car insurance, driving licences, taking pets abroad, data roaming, flights, visas and holiday cancellations.


3


Queen’s Grill Duplex Suite, and inset, agents Linda Parsons (top) and Gemma Furneau


STORIES HOT


Agents in £174k Cunard booking


Harry Kemble harry.kemble@travelweekly.co.uk


 agents hae agged a uer ing  nearly £174,000 – the biggest Kent agency  rael has eer ade


Linda Parsons and Gemma


Furneau, who work at the agency’s Chislehurst branch, teamed up to secure the Cunard booking, in one of Queen Mary 2’s top suites on its 99-night 2020 World Cruise. The booking, for a 71-year- old businessman and his wife, earned the Advantage member 5% commission, more than £8,500. Parsons said: “I will probably


never book something like that again in my lifetime. You hear about people making these bookings, but you never know them.” She and colleague Furneau split their individual commission and were both were sent bathrobes by Cunard as a thank you. The customer had been talking


Johan Lundgren: ‘We’re supportive of a deal on aviation’


to Furneau about the cruise, which will depart from Southampton, for months. It’s a relationship the agent had been nurturing, having booked the businessman on his first ruise 1 years ago.


“It’s our biggest booking, value-wise, in 20 years. It was a real team effort”


Furneau was not in the branch


when he wanted to onfirm, so Parsons stepped in to secure the massive booking. Initially, the customer’s favoured


room – the Queen’s Grill Duplex Suite – had been available only to the US market. But with the help of Travel 2’s Cruise Plus team, Parsons was able to reserve it. Without the agent’s help, the customer would have had to join the cruise in New York a week earlier to secure the room. “It was a fantastic opportunity


for my customer,” said Furneau. “It gave me a lot of satisfaction.” Parsons added: “I’m hoping we get some more bookings off the back of this.” Go Travel director Mike Roberts


said: “It’s the biggest booking, value-wise, that we have had in 20 years – and is all down to Gemma and Linda’s good work. It was a real team effort.”


6 December 2018travelweekly.co.uk5


PICTURE: SARAH LUCY BROWN


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